Pastaruosius kelis dešimtmečius įvairiose valstybėse vystosi tendencija patikėti teisėkūros, vykdomąsias, jurisdikcines funkcijas valstybinio administravimo institucijoms, neįeinančioms į vykdomosios valdžios institucijų sistemą. Šių institucijų steigimo priežasčių yra keletas. Šalyse, kuriose minimos institucijos atsirado anksčiau nei buvo įsteigta ES, šių institucijų plėtra grindžiama tuo, jog visuomenėje egzistuoja sritys, kurių reguliavimą būtų geriau paremti technine, ekonomine ekspertize. Jaunose ES valstybėse narėse šių institucijų plėtra siejama su liberalizuojančių direktyvų nuostatomis, skirtomis nacionalinėms reguliavimo institucijoms. Tokioms institucijoms, joms įgyvendinant reguliavimo funkcijas, suteikiamos plačios diskrecinės galios. Dėl to jos gali tapti įvairių interesų įtakos "taikiniu", siekiančių joms palankių institucijų priimamų sprendimų. Pagrindinis instrumentas apsisaugoti nuo tokių įtakų - tai tinkamas reguliavimo institucijų nepriklausomumo įtvirtinimas teisėje. Disertacinis tyrimas koncentruojamas ties nepriklausomumo nuo politinių įtakų garantijų sistemos įtvirtinimu teisėje bei nepriklausomų reguliavimo institucijų vietos valstybinio administravimo institucijų sistemoje paieška. / For several decades in a row a tendency to delegate legislative, executive and judicial functions to state administration institutions that do not belong to the system of executive bodies has been developing in various states. There exist several reasons for establishing such institutions. In states in which the abovementioned institutions emerged before the establishment of the EU the expansion of such institutions is grounded on the fact that in society there exist spheres the regulation of which should be separated from political cyclicity in order for the decisions to be long-term and based on technical and economic expertise. In young EU states, the development of such institutions is associated with the provisions of liberating directives intended for national regulatory authorities. Such institutions are given wide discretional authority in the implementation of regulatory functions. Thus, they become the "target" of various interest groups that seek for favourable decisions. The main instrument of defence from such influences is a proper legal establishment of the independency guarantees of regulatory authorities. The present dissertation research is aimed at identifying the dysfunctions of the legal regulation of political independence of regulatory authorities and suggesting possible alternative institutional models for the Lithuanian system of state administration institutions.

With the advent of high throughput measurement technologies, large scale gene expression data are available for analysis. Various computational methods have been introduced to analyze and predict meaningful molecular interactions from gene expression data. Such patterns can provide an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms in the cells. In the past, system identification algorithms have been extensively developed for engineering systems. These methods capture the dynamic input/output relationship of a system, provide a deterministic model of its function, and have reasonable computational requirements. In this work, two system identification methods are applied for reverse engineering of gene regulatory networks. The first method is based on an orthogonal search; it selects terms from a predefined set of gene expression profiles to best fit the expression levels of a given output gene. The second method consists of a few cascades, each of which includes a dynamic component and a static component. Multiple cascades are added in a parallel to reduce the difference of the estimated expression profiles with the actual ones. Gene regulatory networks can be constructed by defining the selected inputs as the regulators of the output. To assess the performance of the approaches, a temporal synthetic dataset is developed. Methods are then applied to this dataset as well as the Brainsim dataset, a popular simulated temporal gene expression data. Furthermore, the methods are also applied to a biological dataset in yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae. This dataset includes 14 cell-cycle regulated genes; their known cell cycle pathway is used as the target network structure, and the criteria sensitivity, precision, and specificity are calculated to evaluate the inferred networks through these two methods. Resulting networks are also compared with two previous studies in the literature on the same dataset. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2010-10-18 20:47:36.458

PEPC [PEP(phosphoenolpyruvate) carboxylase] is an essential and tightly controlled enzyme located at the core of plant C-metabolism. It fulfils a broad spectrum of non-photosynthetic functions, particularly the anaplerotic replenishment of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates consumed during biosynthesis and N-assimilation. In plants, a small multigene family encodes several closely related plant-type PEPC (PTPC) isozymes along with a distantly related bacterial-type PEPC (BTPC) isozyme. The PTPCs are well studied ~110-kDa subunits that typically exist as a homotetramer (Class-1 PEPC). By contrast, little is known about the larger ~118-kDa BTPC isozyme except that it occurs in developing castor (Ricinus communis) endosperm in tight association with PTPC subunits as a ~900-kDa hetero-octameric complex (Class-2 PEPC) that is greatly desensitized to metabolic effectors compared to Class-1 PEPC. This thesis elucidates the physiological purpose of the BTPC subunits by examining their structure/function relationship within Class-2 PEPC and identifying mechanisms of post-translational control. Recombinant expression and purification of the castor bean BTPC revealed unusual physical and kinetic properties including a remarkable insensitivity to metabolic effectors and a dependence upon PTPC subunits for structural stability. The first purification of a non-proteolyzed plant Class-2 PEPC complex was performed, and the kinetic analysis determined that the BTPC and PTPC subunits have complimentary catalytic properties. The BTPC subunits’ high Km(PEP) and desensitization to metabolic effectors may function as a metabolic overflow mechanism for sustaining flux from PEP to malate when PTPC subunits become feedback inhibited. An anti-PTPC co-immunopurification strategy was utilized to highly enrich non-proteolyzed BTPC from developing castor endosperm for downstream immunological and mass spectrometric analysis. BTPC was in vivo phosphorylated at multiple novel sites, identified by mass spectrometry as Thr4 or 5, Ser425 and Ser451. Phosphosite-specific antibodies towards Ser425 and Ser451 confirmed the existence of these sites in vivo and comparisons of Ser425 phosphorylation patterns established that the castor BTPC and PTPC phosphorytation sites are regulated independently. Phosphomimetic mutants of Ser425 caused BTPC inhibition by increasing its Km(PEP) and sensitivity to feedback inhibition. These results establish a novel mechanism of PEPC control whose implications within plant carbon metabolism are discussed. / Thesis (Ph.D, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-04 16:46:22.024

The thesis examines European legitimacy and regulatory governance. The research analyzes the link between regulatory governance and legitimacy in EU regulation and evaluates whether governance tools in the form of qualitative administrative criteria can contribute to European regulatory legitimacy. Governance here refers to the exercise of delegated regulatory powers by the European Commission. The question of whether the adoption of qualitative regulatory governance practices can enhance the supranational regulatory legitimacy of the European Commission has been underexamined in the literature typically without distinguishing the analysis from the so-called ‘democratic deficit’ of the EU. Using a case study from the telecommunications sector, the thesis conducts such an examination using a documentary method. To create the analytical context, the thesis distinguishes the theoretical concept of legitimacy for a transnational regulator from that of a national regulator of a sovereign state. The choice is made to use a form of normative regulatory legitimacy drawn from the scholarship on regulatory governance theory. An analytical model is constructed that reflects criteria and values that bear upon legitimacy so as to constitute a meaningful alternative to democratic forms of regulatory accountability. Regulation was defined in the research to cover policy instruments, in the form of measures of positive and negative integration, adopted for the EU single market under Article 106(3) and Article 114 TFEU. The analysis evaluates the regulatory governance used by the European Commission over a twenty-three year time period in which the telecommunications sector was entirely liberalized and harmonized. Analysis revealed that, while the Commission has improved the quality of its regulatory governance in principle, its use of normative regulatory governance in practice requires further attention, notably in respect of improving the evidence base for policy proposals and in creating a meaningful form of empirical feedback in evaluating regulatory outcomes, corresponding to an ex post accountability mechanism. On the other hand, the research validated the premise that a transnational regulator could purposively use regulatory governance as a tool with which to construct a defensible form of regulatory legitimacy.

The re-evaluation of pesticide use patterns is a high priority internationally. The process has led to a reduction in the numbers of pesticides allowed for use in many countries. This withdrawal of pesticides is aimed at consumer and environmental protection. Pesticide mobility and persistence is of major importance especially when considering the protection of water sources. In order to evaluate the suitability of a pesticide for use it is essential that its environmental behaviour is understood and predictable. In this thesis several case studies in which damage to crops may have been caused as a result of herbicides migration are described. Pesticide adsorption and persistence determinations showed that the adsorption coefficients do not differ from those published. Pesticide half lives are however likely to be prolonged in South African soils. Field migration studies show that pesticides are vertically and horizontally mobile in South African soils, seemingly independent of soil type. Both migration as well as upward movement was found, due to the mobility of the pesticides in the test soils. Mobility evaluation was identified as an aspect of importance for registration of pesticides under local conditions. To this end a system is proposed whereby migration can be incorporated into the existing pesticide evaluation framework. The system proposed used the migration model PESTAN as a predictive tool for pesticide migration in the evaluation process. The model is used for the evaluation of pesticides, according to Proposed Pesticide Migration Categories (PPLC). Migration evaluation should be conducted in conjunction with GPS systems to aid in determining potential risk areas where certain pesticide should not be used. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Zoology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

The temporal and spatial patterning that underlies morphogenetic events is controlled by gene regulatory networks (GRNs). These operate through a combinatorial code of DNA – binding transcription factor proteins, and non – coding DNA sequences (cis-regulatory elements, or CREs), that specifically bind transcription factors and regulate nearby genes. By comparatively studying the development of different species, we can illuminate lineage – specific changes in gene regulation that account for morphological evolution. The central nervous system of vertebrates is composed of diverse neural cells that undergo highly coordinated programs of specialization, migration and differentiation during development. Approximately 20% of neurons in the cerebral cortex are GABAergic inhibitory interneurons, which release the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Diseases such as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy are associated with defects in GABAergic interneuron function. Several members of the distal-less homeobox (Dlx) transcription factor family are implicated in a GRN underlying early GABAergic interneuron development in the forebrain. I examined the role played by orthologous dlx genes in the development of GABAergic interneurons in the zebrafish forebrain. I found that when ascl1a transcription factor is down-regulated through the micro-injection of translation – blocking morpholino oligonucleotides, Dlx gene transcription is decreased in the diencephalon, but not the telencephalon. Similarly, gad1a transcription is also decreased in this region for these morphants. As gad1a encodes an enzyme necessary for the production of GABA, these genes are implicated in a cascade underlying GABAergic interneuron development in the diencephalon.

The re-evaluation of pesticide use patterns is a high priority internationally. The process has led to a reduction in the numbers of pesticides allowed for use in many countries. This withdrawal of pesticides is aimed at consumer and environmental protection. Pesticide mobility and persistence is of major importance especially when considering the protection of water sources. In order to evaluate the suitability of a pesticide for use it is essential that its environmental behaviour is understood and predictable. In this thesis several case studies in which damage to crops may have been caused as a result of herbicides migration are described. Pesticide adsorption and persistence determinations showed that the adsorption coefficients do not differ from those published. Pesticide half lives are however likely to be prolonged in South African soils. Field migration studies show that pesticides are vertically and horizontally mobile in South African soils, seemingly independent of soil type. Both migration as well as upward movement was found, due to the mobility of the pesticides in the test soils. Mobility evaluation was identified as an aspect of importance for registration of pesticides under local conditions. To this end a system is proposed whereby migration can be incorporated into the existing pesticide evaluation framework. The system proposed used the migration model PESTAN as a predictive tool for pesticide migration in the evaluation process. The model is used for the evaluation of pesticides, according to Proposed Pesticide Migration Categories (PPLC). Migration evaluation should be conducted in conjunction with GPS systems to aid in determining potential risk areas where certain pesticide should not be used. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Zoology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

No description available.

The control of environmentally damaging activities has become one of the most important areas for concern in recent years. The amount of legislation relating to this subject area has increased several-fold, with European Directives and domestic laws being introduced in response to pressure from a variety of avenues. Key studies on the enforcement of environmental law have been carried out. However, this work was undertaken prior to the expansion of legislative provisions at the start of the 1990s. In the light of this new legislation,n ew regulatorya genciesa, ndc hangingp ublic opinion, the following researcha imsw ere formulated: 1. To assess the approach to enforcement by regulatory agencies (co-operation versus confrontation). 2. To determinet he extent and rate of utilisation of enforcemenmt ethodsb y the regulatory authorities, and the reasons for non-utilisation. 3. To determine which factors influence the strategic decision making process, and to measure the relative importance of each factor. 4. To investigate the types of enforcement policies prevalent in regulatory agencies and evaluate their varying levels of effectiveness. 5. To determine the level of consistency in the approach to enforcement within and between regulatory agencies. 6. To examine the consistency of the levels of penalties applied by the courts. 7. To suggest improvements to the system where required. The first phase of the research involved a postal questionnaire to local authorities. This was followed by structured interviews with NRA and HMIP personnel. An assessment of the consistency of the regulators' enforcement action was made through responses to a regulated community questionnaire, and an appraisal of the consistency of penalties applied by the courts was achieved by analysis of case reports. The main findings from the research were: I. Regulatory agencies adopted a co-operative enforcement approach in the first instance, followed by more stringent action if required. 2. Most regulatory bodies did not use the full array of enforcement methods at their disposal. 3. A large variety of factors relating to the incident affects the decision making process. 4. Not all local authorities had an enforcement policy. Of those that did, a wide variation in the type of enforcement policies existed. 5. Regulators were found to be inconsistent in their enforcement practices. 6. The levels of penalties applied by the courts were also found to be inconsistent. Improvements to the system were suggested as a result of these research findings.

Recently, it has been shown that genetic variation that perturbs the regulation of gene expression is widespread in eukaryotic genomes. Regulatory variation (RV) is expected to be an important driver of phenotypic differences, evolutionary change, and susceptibility to complex genetic diseases. Because trans-acting regulators of gene expression control mRNA levels of multiple genes simultaneously, we hypothesise that RV that affects these components will have a shared-influence upon the expression levels of multiple genes. Since genes are regulated in trans by combinations of basal and tissue specific factors, we further hypothesise that RV in these components may have different effects in each tissue. We used microarrays to identify 755 genes that were affected by RV in at least one of the brain, kidney and liver of two inbred mouse strains, C57BL/6J and DBA/2J. Just 2% were affected in all three tissues, suggesting that the influence of RV is predominantly tissue specific. To study shared-RV, we measured the expression levels of these 755 genes in the same 3 tissues from a panel of recombinant inbred mice, and identified groups of correlated genes that are putatively under the influence of shared trans-acting RV. Using methods that we developed for studying the effects of RV in multiple tissues, we identified 212 genes that are correlated in all three tissues, which include 10 groups of at least 3 genes. We developed a novel method called coherency analysis to show that RV consistently affected the expression levels of these groups of genes in different genetic backgrounds. Strikingly, the relative up- or down-regulation of genes in each group was markedly different in the three tissues of the same mouse, suggesting that the influence of RV itself is not tissue specific as previously expected, but that RV can influence genes with differing outcomes in each tissue. These observations are compatible with RV affecting combinations of basal and tissue specific regulatory factors. This is the first cross-tissue investigation into the influence of shared-RV in multiple tissues, which has important implications in humans, where access to the phenotypically relevant tissue may be necessarily limited.